Brian Imanuel Soewarno (born 3 September 1999), known professionally as Rich Brian, is an

Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesian ...

rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is known for his viral debut single " Dat $tick", which was first released in March 2016 on

SoundCloud SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...

. The single was later certified gold by

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

. His debut studio album, ''

Amen Amen ( he, אָמֵן, ; grc, ἀμήν, ; syc, ܐܡܝܢ, ; ar, آمين, ) is an Abrahamic declaration of affirmation which is first found in the Hebrew Bible, and subsequently found in the New Testament. It is used in Jews, Jewish, Christia ...

'', was released in 2018 and peaked at number 18 on the US ''Billboard'' 200. Brian's second studio album, '' The Sailor'', was released in 2019. He released an EP titled ''1999'' in 2020. He released another EP titled '' Brightside'' in January 2022. Brian has collaborated with many artists from China and South Korea such as

CHUNGHA Kim Chung-ha (, born Kim Chan-mi []; February 9, 1996), known mononym, mononymously as Chungha (stylized as CHUNG HA), is a South Korean Pop music, pop singer, dancer and choreographer signed under MNH Entertainment. She finished fourth in Mn ...

Keith Ape Dongheon Lee (이동헌; born December 25, 1993), known professionally as Keith Ape () and previously known as Kid Ash, is a South Korean rapper from Seoul. He is a member of a crew called 'The Cohort'. Ape's breakout single "잊지마" ("It G Ma ...

Jackson Wang Jackson Wang (; ko, 왕잭슨; born 28 March 1994) is a Hong Kong rapper, singer, dancer, record producer, fashion designer, and music video director. He is the founder of record label Team Wang and is the creative director and lead designer ...

and

Jae Park Park Jae-hyung ( ko, 박제형; born September 15, 1992), better known as Jae ( ko, 제이), is an Argentine-born American musician, singer and songwriter of Korean descent, best known as a former vocalist and lead guitarist of South Korean roc ...

Early life

Brian Imanuel Soewarno was born in

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...

and is ethnically of

Chinese-Indonesian Chinese Indonesians ( id, Orang Tionghoa Indonesia) and colloquially Chindo or just Tionghoa are Indonesians whose ancestors arrived from China at some stage in the last eight centuries. Chinese people and their Indonesian descendants have l ...

descent. He is the youngest of four siblings. Brian was raised in

West Jakarta West Jakarta ( bew, Jakarte Bekulon; id, Jakarta Barat) is one of the five Cities of Indonesia, administrative cities of the Jakarta, Special Capital Region of Jakarta, Indonesia. West Jakarta is not Self-governance, self-governed and does not hav ...

in a middle-to-low class neighbourhood. Despite his father being a lawyer, he never had a formal education and spent most of his time helping at his parents' café while being homeschooled. In 2010, while growing up in Indonesia, Brian began his career with social media when he was 11 years old. He discovered

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

after he got a

Rubik's Cube The Rubik's Cube is a Three-dimensional space, 3-D combination puzzle originally invented in 1974 by Hungarians, Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik. Originally called the Magic Cube, the puzzle was licensed by Rubik t ...

and realised he could log onto his parents' computer to find strategies for solving it faster. He also joined

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

in August 2010. This eventually led him to making video content, including

dark-comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...

sketches on Twitter. He moved to the platform

Vine A vine (Latin ''vīnea'' "grapevine", "vineyard", from ''vīnum'' "wine") is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themselv ...

when he was 15 and began to post daily videos there. Brian, who at the time spoke only

started to learn and polish his English, had an American friend on Skype that he could talk and converse with to improve his English. He also taught himself to speak English by watching YouTube videos and by listening to rappers like

Childish Gambino Donald McKinley Glover Jr. (; born September 25, 1983), also known by his stage name Childish Gambino (), is an American entertainer, writer, director, and producer. After working in Derrick Comedy while studying at New York University, Glove ...

2 Chainz Tauheed K. Epps (born September 12, 1977), known professionally as 2 Chainz (or Tity Boi), is an American rapper. Born and raised in College Park, Georgia, he initially gained recognition as one-half of the Southern hip hop duo Playaz Circle, al ...

Macklemore Benjamin Hammond Haggerty (born June 19, 1983), better known by his stage name Macklemore ( ; (formerly Professor Macklemore), is an American rapper and songwriter. A native of Seattle, Washington, he has collaborated with producer Ryan Lewi ...

and

Tyler, the Creator Tyler Gregory Okonma (born March 6, 1991), known professionally as Tyler, the Creator, is an American rapper and record producer. He is one of the founding members of the music collective Odd Future. Okonma self-released his debut mixtape Bast ...

. Brian began listening to hip hop music in 2012, when an American friend he knew on the internet introduced him to "

Thrift Shop Thrift may refer to: * Frugality * A savings and loan association in the United States * Apache Thrift, a remote procedure call (RPC) framework * Thrift (plant), a plant in the genus ''Armeria'' * Syd Thrift (1929–2006), American baseball execut ...

" by

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Macklemore & Ryan Lewis are an American hip hop duo from Seattle, Washington, formed in 2008 by Macklemore, a rapper,Trust, Gary (2013)Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' 'Can't Hold Us' Makes Hot 100 History, ''Billboard'', May 8, 2013. Retrieved January ...

. Brian began to explore the genre, discovering

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * ...

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...

and

Logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premises ...

at first. Brian wrote his first rap song in 2014 and recorded it onto an iPhone microphone over an

MF DOOM Daniel Dumile ( ; July 13, 1971October 31, 2020), best known by his stage name MF Doom or simply Doom (both stylized in all caps), was a British-American rapper and record producer. Noted for his intricate wordplay, signature metal mask, and ...

produced instrumental. Brian originally wanted to become a

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the photographing or recording of a film, television production, music video or other live action piece. The cinematographer is the ch ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, however he gave up the aspiration once his music career began taking off.

Career

2015–2016: Career beginnings

Brian began his career under the name Rich Chigga and released his debut track, titled "Living the Dream" on 17 July 2015, on his

account. The song was produced by DJ Smokey. Brian then went on to release his debut single " Dat $tick" on 11 March 2016. Shortly after, he was signed by 88rising. "Dat $tick" track caught international success after 88rising released a reaction video featuring American rappers

Ghostface Killah Dennis Coles (born May 9, 1970), better known by his stage name Ghostface Killah, is an American rapper and a member of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan. After the group achieved breakthrough success in the aftermath of ''Enter the Wu-Tang (36 C ...

21 Savage Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph (born October 22, 1992), known professionally as 21 Savage, is a rapper based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Born in London, he moved to Atlanta with his mother at age seven. He became known after releasing two m ...

Tory Lanez Daystar Shemuel Shua Peterson (born July 27, 1992), known professionally as Tory Lanez, is a Canadian rapper, singer, songwriter, and convicted felon. He received initial recognition from the mixtape ''Conflicts of My Soul: The 416 Story'', rel ...

MadeinTYO Malcolm Jamaal Davis (born April 12, 1992), better known by his stage name MadeinTYO (pronounced Made in Tokyo), is an American rapper and singer born in Honolulu, Hawaii. He rose to prominence in 2016 after the release of his single "Uber Everyw ...

Desiigner Sidney Royel Selby III (born May 3, 1997), better known by his stage name Desiigner, is an American rapper and singer. In December 2015, his debut single "Panda" reached number one on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100. In 2019, he was released fr ...

, and many more. Since the official music video for the track was uploaded onto his YouTube account, it has been viewed over 200 million times. "Dat $tick" then went on to peak at number four on the

Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...

. Brian then went on to release his second single titled "Who That Be" on

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

on 9 August 2016. The song was produced by Sihk. He then released a

remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

of his debut single "Dat $tick" which features rappers Ghostface Killah and

Pouya Kevin Pouya (born December 20, 1994), known mononymously as Pouya, is an American rapper from Miami, Florida. Considered as a pioneer of the early underground rap scene that began on SoundCloud in 2012, along with discovering the well known hi ...

. Brian later released his third single "Seventeen" which quickly surpassed the one million hits mark on both YouTube and

2017–2018: ''Amen''

Brian released his fourth single "Back At It" on 19 April 2017. He later started his first US tour in April 2017, which concluded in May. In May 2017, Brian released the single "

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

" with

XXXTentacion Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy (January 23, 1998 – June 18, 2018), known professionally as XXXTentacion, was an American rapper and singer-songwriter. Though a controversial figure due to his widely publicized legal troubles, XXXTentacion ga ...

and

. This was XXXTentacion's first collaboration with Brian and the song was released through

88rising 88rising (stylized as 88⬆), formerly known as CXSHXNLY (pronounced “cash only”), is an American music company that founder Sean Miyashiro describes as a "hybrid management, record label, video production, and marketing company". The compa ...

and has since received over 38 million views on YouTube since its release. Brian won an award at the 4th Indonesian Choice Awards as Breakthrough Artist of the Year in May 2017. Brian announced his debut album in an interview with XXL, saying "I'm working on a debut project and there are some serious songs and some comedic stuff, but the serious songs are my focus." In an interview, Brian said he was spending most of his stay in

, California working on his debut album. Brian released "Glow Like Dat" on 15 August 2017, through 88rising's YouTube channel. He then announced a nationwide tour starting on 9 September and concluding on 21 November titled "Come to My Party Tour". Brian later released the singles "Chaos" and "Crisis" featuring

in October and November 2017 respectively. On 19 December 2017, Brian announced on the social media platform,

, that he was releasing his debut studio album titled, ''

''. On 1 January 2018, Brian officially changed his

stage name A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...

from "Rich Chigga" to "Brian" with the release of "See Me". Six days later, he changed his stage name again to "Rich Brian". Brian later went on and appeared on a single and music video with

Kris Wu Wu Yi Fan (, ; born 6 November 1990), known professionally as Kris Wu, is a Canadian former rapper, singer, actor and model, and convicted serial rapist. He is a former member of South Korean-Chinese boy band Exo and its subgroup Exo-M under SM Ent ...

, Joji,

Trippie Redd Michael Lamar White II (born June 18, 1999), known professionally as Trippie Redd, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He is one of the most prominent members of the SoundCloud rap scene, which gained mainstream acclaim in the late ...

and

Baauer Harry Bauer Rodrigues (born April 30, 1989), known professionally as Baauer, is an American record producer and DJ, best known for his double platinum song "Harlem Shake (song), Harlem Shake". He has produced varied dance music from the age of 13 ...

titled, "18" on 16 January. On 2 February, ''Amen'' was released and made him the first

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

musician to reach number one on iTunes Hip Hop charts and went on to peak at number 18 on the US ''Billboard'' 200. Following the release of ''Amen'', Brian released "Watch Out!" on 4 April 2018. He later appeared on 88rising's compilation album, '' Head in the Clouds'' and released two singles to promote the album with " Midsummer Madness" featuring Joji,

Higher Brothers Higher Brothers are a Chinese hip hop group from Chengdu consisting of four members: MaSiWei (马思唯 Siwei Ma), DZknow (丁震 Zhen Ding), Psy.P (杨俊逸 Junyi Yang), and Melo (谢宇杰 Yujie Xie). They are signed with the record label 88ris ...

, Kyle Chan, 8 August, and "History" which were released on 7 June and 18 July respectively. The album was released on 20 July 2018.

2019–present: ''The Sailor'', ''1999'' and ''Brightside''

On 26 June 2019, Brian released a new single, titled "Yellow", featuring the artist and producer Bekon and later announced his second studio album titled '' The Sailor''. He then released the second single from the album "Kids" on 17 July 2019.Rich Brian shares "Kids" from upcoming album
by Jeremy Nifras, Brooklyn Vegan, 19 July 2019. ''The Sailor'' was released on 26 July 2019 with guest appearances from

RZA Robert Fitzgerald Diggs (born July 5, 1969), better known by his stage name the RZA ( ), is an American rapper, actor, filmmaker, and record producer. He is the ''de facto'' leader of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan, having produced most albums ...

and Joji. On 25 August 2020, Brian released an EP titled ''

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

''. The seven-track EP was preceded with three singles with accompanying music videos: "Don't Care", "Love in my Pocket" and "DOA". On 20 January 2022, Brian released another EP titled '' Brightside''. The four-track EP was preceded with a single with an accompanying music video: "New Tooth". On the day of the EP's release, a music video for one of its songs, "Getcho Mans", which features fellow Indonesian rapper

Warren Hue Warren Hue (born June 20, 2002) known professionally as Warren Hue is an Indonesian rapper-singer signed to 88rising. Career Since the age of 16, Warren has created and released music. He started his music career with a remix of Valee's "Womp ...

, was also released.

Musical style

Rich Brian's musical style has been called "ironic" by

UrbanDaddy UrbanDaddy is a company based in New York which published content about men's luxury lifestyle topics. As of August 2012, its websites and newsletters have more than 4.5 million subscriber in ten U.S. markets. UrbanDaddy publishes a daily email ne ...

though it "eventually transcends itself to become a legitimate piece of art." Brian's vocals have been described as baritone, and his delivery as "gruff yet agile" and "unique". His song writing ability has been called "skilled" by HotNewHipHop. Brian, originally making comedic music, has since attempted to distance himself and make more serious music with singles such as "Seventeen" and " Glow Like Dat". With the release of "Yellow" on 26 June 2019, Rich Brian's musical style expanded. In an interview with Complex Magazine, he states that his album "The Sailor" is an "important step forward for his art" and he is beginning to "write about things that are deeply personal to him." Brian has cited

Young Thug Jeffery Lamar Williams (born August 16, 1991), known professionally as Young Thug, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. He is considered to be an influential figure of his generation, with his music impacting the modern sound of hip ...

Tyler, The Creator Tyler Gregory Okonma (born March 6, 1991), known professionally as Tyler, the Creator, is an American rapper and record producer. He is one of the founding members of the music collective Odd Future. Okonma self-released his debut mixtape Bast ...

Yung Lean Yung may refer to: * Yung (surname), Chinese surname * Yung Joc, (born Jasiel Robinson in 1983), an American rapper * Yung Wun, (born James Carlton Anderson in 1982), an American rapper * Yung Berg, (born Christian Ward in 1985), an American rapper ...

and

as inspirations.

Personal life

During his youth, Brian competed in a couple of Rubik's cube competitions. According to his

World Cube Association The World Cube Association (WCA) is the worldwide non-profit organization that regulates and holds competitions for mechanical puzzles that are operated by twisting groups of pieces, commonly known as '' twisty puzzles'' (a subcategory of combina ...

page, he attended the 2010 Jakarta Open Rubik's Cube Competition. He finished 20th out of 106 during the qualification round for the 3×3×3 cube, with a best of 23.65 seconds. Brian was admitted into the first round where he finished 51st out of 105, with a best of 20.44 seconds. During the same competition, he also competed in the 2×2×2 and the 4×4×4 events. Brian finished 24th out of 74 during the 2×2 event and had a best of 7.96 seconds. While during the 4×4 event Brian finished 35th out of 43 with a best of 2:22.81 minutes. Brian also competed in the 2×2 event at the Jakarta Ceria Open in October of 2010, there he finished 28th out of 67 with a best solve of 5.68 seconds. Brian currently lives in Los Angeles after moving there in May 2017. He is not a

permanent resident Permanent residency is a person's legal resident status in a country or territory of which such person is not a citizen but where they have the right to reside on a permanent basis. This is usually for a permanent period; a person with such ...

of the United States; though in July 2017, he extended his stay. Brian's original stage name, Rich Chigga, created controversy in the past. Brian and his friend came up with the nickname when he came out with his first song on SoundCloud. "I realized I don't really have a rap name. And then my friend from Wichita was just talking about it. We came up with a couple of names which were cool, and he was just like, 'Rich Chigga.' I was like, 'That is really catchy.' And that's honestly it." Talking about his stage name, Brian said "I do regret it – I didn't really know what I was doing and I definitely did not know people were gonna pop off like this." As a result, he began to be professionally known by Rich Brian from 2018 onwards. In a Twitter post, Brian said "I have been planning to do this forever and I'm so happy to finally do it. I was naïve and I made a mistake." Brian was homeschooled and has stated that he does not wish to seek college education, though if given the chance, he would attend film school.

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Other charted songs

Guest appearances

Remixes

Filmography

Selected filmography • Jamojaya (2023)

Concert tours

Headlining * Come to My Party Tour (2017–2018) *The Sailor Tour (2019) Co-headlining * 88rising Asia Tour (2017)

References

External links

* * *
Rich Brian: The Sailor Album Review (Indonesia)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brian, Rich 1999 births Indonesian emigrants to the United States 21st-century Indonesian male singers Indonesian people of Chinese descent Indonesian rappers English-language singers from Indonesia Living people Musicians from Jakarta Indonesian singers Indonesian songwriters Indonesian record producers Indonesian Christians